Good reasons to run : women and political candidacy

After the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, a large cohort of women emerged to run for office. Their efforts changed the landscape of candidates and representation. However, women are still far less likely than men to seek elective office, and face biases and obstacles in campaigns. (Women running for Congress make twice as many phone calls as men to raise the same contributions.) The editors and contributors to Good Reasons to Run , a mix of scholars and practitioners, examine the reasons why women run—and do not run—for political office. They focus on the opportunities, policies, and structures that promote women’s candidacies. How do nonprofits help recruit and finance women as candidates? And what role does money play in women’s campaigns? The essays in Good Reasons to Run ask not just who wants to run, but how to activate and encourage such ambition among a larger population of potential female candidates while also increasing the diversity of women running for office. Contents Introduction Part I: Who Runs? 1. What If Women Won’t Run? Exploring Gender Gaps in Elite Political Ambition | Karen O’Connor and Alixandra B. Yanus 2. Who Runs? Data from Women Trained as Candidates | Rachel I. Bernhard, Shauna L. Shames, Rachel Silbermann, and Dawn Langan Teele 3. Political Ambition, Structural Obstacles, and the Fate of Republican Women | Malliga Och 4. Who Is Stacey Abrams? An Examination of Gender and Race Dynamics in State-Level Candidacy | Jamil Scott, Kesicia Dickinson, and Pearl K. Dowe Part II: Why Run? 5. Ambition for Office: Women and Policy-making | Sue Thomas and Catherine Wineinger 6. From Civic Mindedness to Electoral Politics: Citizen Advisory Committees and the Decision to Run for School Board | Rebecca E. Deen and Beth Anne Shelton 7 Youth National Service and Women’s Political Ambition: The Case of Teach For America | Cecilia Hyunjung Mo and Georgia Anderson-Nilsson Part III: Why Not Run? 8. The Uneven Geography of Candidate Emergence: How the Expectation of Winning Influences Candidate Emergence | Heather L. Ondercin 9. How Political Parties Can Diversify Their Leadership | Alejandra Gimenez Aldridge, Christopher F. Karpowitz, J. Quin Monson, and Jessica Robinson Preece 10. Late to the Party: Black Women’s Inconsistent Support from Political Parties | Nadia E. Brown and Pearl K. Dowe 11. Women’s Political Ambition and the 2016 Election | Chris W. Bonneau and Kristin Kanthak Part IV: How Nonprofits Help Women Run for Office 12. Women Candidate Recruitment Groups in the States | Rebecca Kreitzer and Tracy Osborn 13. Are You Ready to Run®? Campaign Trainings and Women’s Candidacies in New Jersey | Kira Sanbonmatsu and Kelly Dittmar 14. Pieces of Women’s Political Ambition Puzzle: Changing Perceptions of a Political Career with Campaign Training | Monica C. Schneider and Jennie Sweet-Cushman 15. Women Running in the World: Candidate Training Programs in Comparative Perspective | Jennifer M. Piscopo Part V: The Special Role of Money 16. Building a Campaign Donor Network: How Candidate Gender and Partisanship Impact the Campaign Money Chase | Michele L. Swers and Danielle M. Thomsen 17. Training Women to Run in an African Democracy: The Case of Benin | Martha C. Johnson 18. Paying It Forward: Candidate Contributions and Support for Diverse Candidates | Jaclyn J. Kettler Conclusion: A Reason and a Season to Run Bibliography Contributors Index After the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, a large cohort of women emerged to run for office. Their efforts changed the landscape of candidates and representation. However, women are still far less likely than men to seek elective office, and face biases and obstacles in campaigns. (Women running for Congress make twice as many phone calls as men to raise the same contributions.) The essays in __Good Reasons to Run__ ask not just who wants to run, but how to activate and encourage such ambition among a larger population of potential female candidates while also increasing the diversity of women running for office. "Examines the current landscape of opportunities for women in electoral office to determine what kinds of messages, support, and training are most effective in getting women candidates to run"-- Provided by publisher